TYLER IRVING:  On Wednesday, parliament voted to give the Environment Committee 30 more sitting days to consider Bill C-311, known as the Climate Change Accountability Act. The private member’s bill, introduced by NDP MP Bruce Hyer, would have imposed strict emissions targets for Canada: carbon emissions would be reduced to 80% below 1990 levels by 2050.

Earlier in the week, NDP leader Jack Layton had been pressing the other parties in the house to deny the extension. He wanted the bill passed into law quickly in order to send a strong message before the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Copenhagen this December. He called the extension request a delay tactic, advanced by the federal Conservatives.

This is the second time the NDP have put the bill before parliament. The first version, introduced by Layton himself in 2006, passed all three house readings but died in the senate when the 2008 election was called. Wednesday’s motion to delay the bill was opposed by the NDP and the Bloc Quebecois, but supported by both the Conservatives and the Liberals. Liberal critic David McGuinty told CBC news that the committee needs to hear more about the positions of other countries before approving the bill. The vote virtually guarantees that the bill will not be passed by December. [ index ]

LEEANNE MACGREGOR: Canada’s first large-scale solar power project opened for operation earlier this month. The First Light solar generating field spans across a 90 acre farm in Stone Mills, Ontario. The 126,000 photovoltaic panels will produce energy at a capacity of 9.1 megawatts annually, providing 10 million kWh of renewable electricity in the first year or enough to power 10,000 homes. Electricity produced by the farm will effectively remove upwards of 8,000 metric tons of carbon from the atmosphere or the equivalent of taking almost 1,800 cars off the road. With two more large PV solar projects in the works, Ontario expects to be North America’s leader in solar energy by the end of the year. Ontario Minister of Energy and Infrastructure George Smitherman attributes this year’s Green Energy Act to the growing success of renewable energy projects. Under the Act, the province’s current remaining grid capacity will be allocated preferentially to new renewable energy projects.  [ index ]

TYLER IRVING:  On Tuesday, the board of directors Metrolinx agreed to spend $2 million to find out what it would cost to electrify the entire GO transit system. The one-year study will include an assessment of the environmental and health effects, as well as a cost-benefit analysis.

Metrolinx is the Toronto and Hamilton area’s transit authority, which merged with GO transit in May. It is already planning an expansion of its service from Union Station to Pearson Airport, as well as increased trains on the Georgetown line. However, the organization has been under pressure to electrify these lines by citizens who live near the train tracks. Groups like the Clean Trains Coalition complain that emissions from diesel trains cause air particulates that can lead to lung problems, especially in children and seniors.

An environmental assessment of the expansion was approved this month by Environment Minister John Gerretsen, but with the caveat that the new trains must use the so-called “Tier 4” diesel technology. Tier 4 is a U.S. EPA-developed standard that, in combination with low-sulfur fuels, is supposed to reduce particulates by 90%. The technology is not yet commercially available, but Metrolinx officials say they plan to convert the entire fleet to Tier 4 technology in 2017. In the meantime, groups like the Clean Train Coalition are asking Metrolinx to delay expenditures on diesel-only infrastructure until the results of the electrification study are known in December of 2010. [ index ]

LEEANNE MACGREGOR: A report from the World Wildlife Fund-Canada warns that low water levels mean big trouble for Canadian rivers. The report is the first in Canada to look at the health of national rivers based on how human activity has affected their natural flows. Past reports have focused on the quality of river water and issues of industrial pollution, excluding the importance of quantity of water in reflecting a river’s health. With hydro dams, irrigation schemes, and withdrawals by industry each displacing an increasing share of Canada’s fresh river water, a shrinking amount is left in place for riparian ecosystems to function. The South Saskatchewan River has been reported as Canada’s most threatened large river. Seventy percent of water in the South Saskatchewan is diverted to agriculture whereas the WWF indicates that healthy river ecosystems need 85% of water to remain in the river bed. The report assessed 10 major rivers and warns that the biggest threat to the future health of rivers is the growing demand on water systems as a result of global warming. The complete effects global climate change could have on Canadian rivers is an area that the WWF says needs more research. [ index ]

TYLER IRVING:  A Canada-US team analysing sediment cores from a remote lake on Baffin Island have provided further evidence that the arctic is heating up in an unprecedented way.

The 40-hectare lake is both small and shallow enough to have frozen solid during the last ice age. This meant that its bottom was not scoured by glaciers as many other lakes were during this period. Its sediments provide an undisturbed fossil record that provides clues about the local climate stretching back 200,000 years, which is 8000 farther than the timeline available from Greenland’s ice cores.

The scientists examined number and type of species from each era, including fossilized plants, insects, algae and diatoms. Among other things, they noticed that two species of mosquito-like midges that are known to be adapted to cold temperatures have essentially disappeared in the last 50 years. They also noted a flourishing of lake algae that could be related to thinner ice cover. The study’s lead author, Yarrow Axford, says that the data constitutes “clear evidence for warming in one of the most remote places on Earth at a time when the Arctic should be cooling “

The study was published Monday in the U.S. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. [ index ]

LEEANNE MACGREGOR:  New funding from the province of Alberta will help with a project to turn garbage into heat. Homes and businesses in Strathcona County Alberta will be heated using the residual heat and synthetic gas from an Edmonton waste-to-biofuels plant. The Edmonton waste-to-biofuel plant is set to be finished by the end of this year. Once completed it will be a one-of-a-kind in North America commercial facility which uses microorganisms to convert waste into valuable synthetic gases including ethanol, methanol and diesel. The waste-to-fuel facility will help divert 90% of Edmonton’s solid waste from landfill, while the heat produced as a bi-product of the process will be used for residential heating as an alternative to natural gas. Once operational in 2012, the Enerkem renewable energy project will reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by about 7,000 tonnes per year. [ index ]

TYLER IRVING: Late on Wednesday, Korea National Oil Corporation (KNOC) announced it would buy Harvest Energy for over $4 billion dollars. The deal includes a $1.8 billion cash payment and the assumption of $2.3 billion of debt by Korea.

Korea is known for being industrially rich but resource poor. With the purchase, Korea will acquire several conventional oil and gas properties in western Canada, as well as two Alberta oil sands properties, one in Peace River and the other in Cold Lake. They will also inherit the beleaguered oil refinery off the coast of Come-by-Chance, Newfoundland. At the time of the purchase, Harvest Energy was capable of producing over 60,000 barrels of oil per day.

The move might be considered part of a trend by which Asian countries are trying to increase their energy security by investing in Canadian oil projects. Last month, China’s national energy company acquired a 60% stake in the Athabasca Oil Sands Corporation. Some analysts speculate that Asia’s hunger for oil will provide more momentum for the Enbridge project known as “Northern Gateway.” That project would be a crude oil pipeline bringing oil from Edmonton to Kitimat, B.C. for export to Asian markets. [ index ]

SHAK HAQ:  A new anti-garbage strategy in the US known as “zero waste” is moving from obscurity and taking over cafeterias, national parks, restaurants, stadiums and coporations. The goal of the zero waste movement, as the name suggests, is to not just reduce waste, but eliminate it all together. This means eradicating packaging that is not biodegradable and recycling and composting everything else. Currently, Americans rank high in waste output dumping 4.6 pounds per person. Food waste, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, accounts for about 13 per cent of total trash across the US. This is problematic because when food waste goes to a landfill it does not return its remaining nutrients back to the soil. In addition, when food waste is sealed without oxygen and begin to decompose, it releases methane, which contributes to warming the earth’s atmosphere. When food is composted, it can be broken down and returned to the earth in the form of fertilizer and there is no methane by-product. Research in packaging is evolving quickly as an aspect of the zero-waste movement. Bioplastics made from plant materials like cornstarch are similar in structure to plastic. To dispose, the bioplastic dissolves when heated for a few minutes making the items completely compostable. The only pitfall with this initiative is the awareness and forcing the public to distinguish between bioplastics and regular plastic. When bioplastics are mistakenly sent to the recycling plant and melted down, they cause problems with the machine. Manufacturers are looking into labeling bioplastics with a brown or green stripe to help differentiate. Although the movement is picking up steam, at the moment, most communities are still lacking the infrastructure to aim for a zero-waste target. [ index ]

SHAK HAQ: India and China have signed a five-year deal aimed at combating climate change. The countries have agreed to strengthen dialogue and co-operate on battling global warming. Signed this past Wednesday, the agreement aims to establish a working group to exchange information on climate change in preparation for December’s global climate change conference in Copenhagen.
India and China are among the world’s biggest polluters and in the past have rejected complying with emission cuts because they feel capping emissions obstructs economic growth that could alleviate poverty in their countries. Al Gore recently stated that it is crucial for the US and China to work together to combat climate change. He urged the two nations to work together and investigate alternative energy sources such as wind, solar and geothermal power. The Chinese president, Hu Jintao said his government was hopeful that the Copenhagen talks would be fruitful. At a UN speech last month, he promised to make “substantial” reductions in China’s CO2 emissions per unit of economic output. [ index ]

SHAK HAQ: Pollutants being emitted from melting glaciers may help explain an increase in persistent organic pollutants in some lakes, Swiss scientists report.
Researchers from the Institute for Chemical and Bioengineering in Zurich examined organic pollutants in sediment at the glacier-fed Lake Oberaar in the Bernese Alps. The sediment was tested for dioxins, PCBs, organochlorine pesticides and synthetic musk fragrances.
Christian Bogdal, the head researcher stated, “Considering ongoing global warming and accelerated massive glacial melting predicted for the future, our study indicates the potential for environmental impacts due to pollutants delivered into pristine mountainous areas.”
The full report will be released in the November 1 issue of the journal Environmental Science & Technology. [ index ]

SHAK HAQ:  Traditionally, urbanisation and wildlife are opposing force. However, scientists have found a turtle that fared better in suburbia than in natural reserves. The eastern long-necked turtle is a common species native to south eastern Australia. Found in freshwater habitats in the wild, they are carnivores that feed on fish, frogs and crayfish. The turtle was found to have a better survival rate and increased growth in a suburban habitat. Over the course of a year, researchers compared turtles in the suburban areas of Canberra with those living in natural reserves nearby and examined their response to urban living and drought. Their findings were the opposite of what they expected. They found turtles in suburban centres moved across greater distances and occupied home ranges three times larger than those on natural reserves despite the many threats of suburban life. The response to drought was also surprising. Wild turtles responded by lying dormant buried under leaf litter, known as estivating. Suburban turtles didn’t need to as bodies of water are often incorporated into urban design for storm water removal and retention. Turtles experiencing drought conditions are depleted in energy and water stores. Suburban turtles didn’t experience these setbacks during the droughts. The findings of the study are published in the journal Biological Conservation. [ index ]